


Legends

by TheMangledSans0508



Series: Chara's LJ Stuff [4]
Category: Lumberjanes
Genre: ? - Freeform, Alternate Universe, F/F, Gen, Ghosts, Government Experimentation, High School, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29146914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMangledSans0508/pseuds/TheMangledSans0508
Summary: Mal felt like she shouldn't have taken that dare, now she was stuck in a probably haunted abandoned school. Molly doesn't know why she was so compelled to come to the school in the first place, but she knows she doesn't regret it one bit.I forgot this existed back in 2018 because that was when I was having issues with a lot of things, 2021 Chara is rewriting to finish this!
Relationships: Mal Yoo/Molly (Lumberjanes)
Series: Chara's LJ Stuff [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1826761
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Truth or Dare?

Mal looked from the paper in her hand to the faded sign in towering over her.

“HOPE ELEMENTARY”.

It was almost unreadable, having been left vacant for over fifty years. She had lied to her mother, climbed fences, walked a few miles in dense woods, because of a stupid dare.

Then again, did she have anything better to do?

~

“Truth or Dare, Mal?” Alice’s curly brown hair bounced off her shoulders as she leaned over their lunch table, folding her hands and resting her chin on them. Her smile was one of mischief, something her blue eyes reflected as well. 

“Dare, duh.” Mal stuck her tongue out at the other girl, ignoring the crude gesture that was flashed her way. 

“I dare you…” She tapped her chin in thought, and Mal could see the imaginary lightbulb turn on when she got an idea. “I dare you to spend the night at Hope Elementary.”

“Hope Elementary?” Mal’s voice had an edge of curiosity along with caution. Any plans or dares involving Alice were unique and potentially mentally scarring. She shuddered as she remembered the last dare.

“You’ve never heard of Hope Elementary?” Alice laughed and tilted back in her chair, almost falling only to be saved by Aria.

“Most people don’t have a wealth of useless knowledge like you, hon.” She placed her phone on the table, ignoring how it lit up to signal new messages and directed her attention to the conversation. Her short brown bob fitted to the sides of her face and she pushed her hair behind her ear. Her brown eyes studied Alice’s expression and she cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t think even Maisie knows what that is, and she loves all that scary stuff.”

“Actually, I do know about Hope,” Maisie said from beside Mal. Her blonde hair was drawn back in a ponytail and her green eyes didn’t look up from her book. “Some stuff from the cold war, things that were hidden from the public. A few independent researchers looked into the files, but they disappeared after a bit. The government was involved there. They only just left the area in like, two-thousand nine? Closed it off, barbed wire fences and shit.”

“That’s not what I was talking about. I was talking about the story of the monster that lives there.” There was a clatter from a tray being dropped on the table and some mashed potatoes flew onto the grey plastic surface. Mary sat beside Alice and placed her hand over her heart, her face drawn in false fear. She dramatically threw her head back so her long black hair was tossed over her shoulders. Her sky-blue eyes were wide and highlighted due to the black eyeliner encircling them.

“A monster? Mal, you simply mustn’t go!” 

“Don’t you have a rehearsal or something? Are you ditching? What a bad lead,” Ayden taunted. Their brown hair itched Mal’s neck since they leaned against her shoulder, their upper spine pressed into Mal and it was slightly uncomfortable but she wasn’t going to complain since she was used to it. Ayden used whoever sat beside them like that so they could sit sideways and put their feet on another seat. They never looked away from the Nintendo system in their hand so they missed the glare Mary sent them.

“Rehearsals are after school, Ayden. You know that. I was with Chase,” she sneered and turned to Mal, her expression changing fluidly as if the one before had never existed. “You shouldn’t go there, even if it is just a myth.”

“I don’t even know the myth!” Mal exclaimed. Alice hooked an arm around Mary’s shoulder and pulled her over, nearly dragging her out of the seat.

“Well, I do. My grandfather had been alive when the place opened and closed and he heard all the news as it came out.” Alice relaxed in her chair and released Mary from her grasp, who rubbed her neck. “Sit down kiddies, Auntie Alice is gonna tell you all a story.”

“Mary can I have my earbuds back?”

“No.” Mary flipped them off. 

“If you don’t settle down, Auntie Alice is getting the belt,” Alice threatened, “Now, back in the fifties, maybe fifty-three? Doesn’t matter. Hope Elementary opened. It wasn’t segregated surprisingly, but that was probably the only good thing about it. Over eighteen years, every year at least five kids disappeared a year. Up to ten. At least a hundred-eight kids disappeared in total. Never an explanation, never any closure.”

“That’s sketchy,” Aria mumbled.

“Shut up. Kids were so used to it that they would make bets on who would disappear next. Even teachers were aware that it was a pattern, especially after one of them disappeared. The pattern they figured out? If they heard a soft wind-like lullaby then someone was going to get snatched. Parents eventually got so paranoid that in the last year, two-hundred kids finished the school year out of five-hundred. Of course, that includes the ones that vanished.”

“So literally no answers? Nothing? And nobody batted a fucking eye?” Mal asked.

“Only one answer. From a little kid, little dude was named Barney. The kid had been lured into the woods, they said, from the music. The only reason they made it back was they saw something horrifying.”

“What was so horrifying? Was it a picture of Mary?” Ayden asked. Mal blocked out Mary’s snapping and focused on Alice. Her grin was flashed and she reached over and grabbed Mary’s wrist, jerking it forward.

“A severed hand!” Alice shouted and Mary screamed dramatically, drawing even Ayden’s attention who grabbed something from their tray and threw it at her. Mal saw Maisie roll her eyes and shut her book.

“I doubt all of that, what actually happened was-”

Mal blocked the noise from Mary and Ayden’s yelling, Alice and Maisie’s debate, and the typical lunchroom chatter.

~

Mal shook her head and pushed open the skeleton metal of the shattered glass door and stepped inside, ignoring the crunching under her feet. She thought about how the school must have looked back in the day with students flocking through the empty hallways. 

She watched the dust particles dance in the sunlight beaming through the ruined windows and tried not to think about how all the paint was probably lead-based. She wandered down one of the hallways and stepped over some fallen ceiling tiles and slipped into a classroom, inspecting the bookshelves and backpacks still littering the area. She was opening a cabinet when she heard some footsteps coming her way. 

She dived into the mostly-empty cabinet and shut the door save for a sliver to be able to see. She watched as a girl walked into the room. Long blonde hair tied back in a messy braid. She couldn’t see her face, but she could tell she was her age. The girl looked around the room, her face never fully visible to Mal. She sighed and turns around, allowing Mal to catch a glimpse of her forest-green eyes.

“I told you, there’s no one here.” She started to walk out and maybe it was because Mal was impulsive, maybe because she was curious, maybe because it was a weird pretty girl in an abandoned school. She burst out of the cabinet.

“Wait!”


	2. Hermit Girl

The girl seemed more surprised to see Mal than Mal was surprised to find a girl in the abandoned building. She stood quickly, stumbling over her feet and sticking her arms out to catch her balance. The girl watched her warily and even stepped back a bit. 

“Hi. Hello. My name is Mal. I didn’t expect to see another person here,” Mal rambled.

“My name is Molly,” she said cautiously, “I live here.”

“You live here? In a school as old as dirt? How do you get food and stuff?” She shrugged.

“I make do, it’s not impossible.” 

“I know it’s not, but why would you choose it?” Mal asked. 

“What are you doing here? I’ve never seen anybody else here,” Molly questioned. 

“My friend dared me and I’m not a coward,” Mal stated confidently. “I got to spend the night here. But I can like, just go if you don’t want me here. I didn’t know I was breaking into someone’s house.”

“Nah, it’s fine. You can do your dare,” Molly sighed. “But you shouldn’t do it here. It’s not entirely stable, and there is mould around the windows and heater.”

“What type of mould?”

“Mould.” Molly turned and motioned for Mal to follow, navigating through the hallways to stop at a commons area, worn blue carpets completely gone in places. There were remains of a fire, a few small blankets, and a couple of backpacks leaning against the benches fixed to the ground. A pile of sticks and scraps of wood sat against lockers that encircled the area. 

“Is this everything you own?” Molly nodded.

“Yeah. It’s all I need.”

“How do you get food? Shower? Like, you’re isolated out here.” Molly knelt by the ashes and frowned. 

“Plants, there’s a greenhouse out back that still works for the most part. And a river down a little way.”

“Do you have any other pairs of clothes?”

“You’re really curious,” Molly mumbled. She stepped back to rummage through a backpack, pulling out a lighter. She shook it next to her ear and pocked it, grabbing some wood and kneeling down by the fire again to light some twigs. Mal watched her work with her arms crossed, awkwardly shifting her weight from foot to foot.

“It’s not every day I meet an actual hobo,” Mal defended. Molly dropped some larger sticks on the flame and turned to face her.

“Hermit, actually. If you want to call me something, I’d be a hermit, not a hobo, or homeless.”

“A girl who lives in an abandoned building that survives by herself and is smarter than me. I’m going to have some questions. Like how old are you?” Molly tapped her chin in thought, ashes marking the skin where she touched. 

“I don’t know. I think fifteen maybe? It’s hard to count.” Molly sat down on one of the benches, staring into the fire. “It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s just how much time I’ve existed. Not anything to keep track of.”

“Why are you even out here?” Molly’s breath hitched and she dug her nails into the material underneath her. 

“That’s none of your business.” She said stiffly. “Excuse me if I’m rude, it has been a long time since I have spoken with another living person.”

“No, that’s your right. You could honestly kick me out and that’d be fair.” Mal sat down beside her and noticed her shift away slightly. “I think I’ve finished the dare, but it is dark out by now I bet. I left late in the day.” She nodded.

“It’s definitely night. You may stay, it’s safer than you stumbling into barbed wire because you can’t see.” She got up and picked up a blanket, handing it to her. “It gets cold at night,” she explained. 

“Thanks,” Mal murmured and wrapped the blanket around herself, laying on the musty smelling surface and closing her eyes.

~

When Mal woke up, she had completely forgotten where she was. In a room that was barely lit and only then by smouldering embers with a bunch of tattered blankets covering her she thought either her and her friends had gone to explore some condemned place or she had been kidnapped. Then she heard the odd soft voice that reminded her of how stupid she was. Sleeping next to a stranger in a place where she could’ve been murdered without ever being heard was not her smartest decision.

She couldn’t make out any words, only three voices. Two of which she was unfamiliar with. She pulled the blankets off herself, noting that she had all of them when she had originally only had one. She only took a few steps before she tripped over a half-burned stick and fell on her face. The voices stopped.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just fucking stupid,” Mal groaned, pushing herself up off the mushy floor. She pressed her palm to her forehead and sighed. “That’s embarrassing.”

“I’ve done that hundreds of times,” she reassured. “It happens when you’re trying to walk in the dark.”

“Yeah, my room is normally lit up enough to see. Who were you talking to? I thought you were alone?” Molly stiffened.

“Nobody. You just woke up, you’re probably still half-asleep. I also talk to myself sometimes, and maybe there was an echo,” Molly rambled. Mal raised an eyebrow but didn’t question further. Instead, she picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. 

“Are you leaving now?” Molly was frowning, Mal hesitated.

“I have to. My mom is expecting me. I can’t make her worry.” Molly frown deepened and Mal felt bad. “ I can come back though. Next weekend. If you want. I know you don’t have much company here.” Mal was treated with a small smile.

“I’d like that. I enjoy your company, even if you ask a lot of questions.”

“I like solving mysteries, and you seem full of them.” Mal winked and swore that even in the poor lighting, she could see a blush. 

“Stay well,” she said. 

“You too,” Mal replied. 

Outside of the building, while she was climbing the fence, she swore that there was a tall figure lurking in the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got real bad writer's block while working on this one, rip me.


	3. Queers Discussing Mysteries, Disney Movies, and what might murder you in a shady building

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry in advance this entire chapter is a mess for morning chara to clean up I am tired

“Mal!” Mary grabbed her arm the moment she walked into the cafeteria, dramatically leaned against her shoulder. “We thought that you had been eaten!”

“Literally no one thought that,” Ayden said. Alice tapped her fingers against the table, the clicking loud enough for Mal to hear. She flashed a grin and beckoned her to sit down.

“So, enlighten us, Mal, did you find anything interesting? A dead body? Drugs? A murderer?”

“Obviously not a murderer, since she’s standing right here,” Maisie pointed out.

“Maybe she befriended them. You never know.”

“I found a crumbling old school with serious health hazards that had a squatter. That’s it. No paranormal shit or government experimentation, just typical abandoned building issues.”

“There was a squatter? Did you still spend the night?” Aria asked. Mal nodded.

“Yeah, she let me stay. She was nice, actually.”

“We talking old lady squatter or poor college kid squatter?” Maisie questioned.

“Neither. Like, fifteen-year-old runaway squatter. Maybe runaway. I don’t actually know.”

“Mal I know you aren’t always the smartest, but spending the night with some strange girl you just met is really fucking dumb,” Maisie commented. 

“That’s true,” Mal agreed. “But I did, and I plan on going back. She seems pretty lonely.”

“Guys, Mal is going to fucking die, I’ll hold her funeral.”

“Shut up Maise, I won’t die. She could’ve killed me if she wanted and obviously, she didn’t,” Mal snapped. Maisie mimicked her with her hand and got whacked by Aria.

“I trust Mal’s gut. If she thinks it’s fine, then it’s fine. She’s never been wrong before.”

“Do I need to go down the list?” Ayden asked.

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Well, the girl might not murder you, but Lady Song might,” Alice said, her voice dropping to sound like Vincent Prince. 

“Will you drop that? I told you it was government experimentation.”

“Well, where did you hear that, Maisie?” Mal asked. She cocked an eyebrow. 

“The internet? Where else?”

“Could you send me them?”

“Yeah, sure, since you apparently don’t know how to use Google,” she pulled out her phone and began tapping away, Mal not daring to look over her shoulder.

“What, you gonna write a report?” Ayden inquired.

“No, I just want to know more about it,” Mal mumbled. Mary grinned at her.

“Was she a pretty girl?” she questioned. Mal felt heat rush to her cheeks and she stammered.

“Wha-why? Yes? Maybe a little?”

“Mal’s type is apparently hobo,” Ayden teased “I guess that’s why you and Aria broke up.”

“That’s not at all why and she’s a hermit,” Mal corrected. Mary sighed.

“It’s like a Disney movie. Maybe like ‘The Lady and The Tramp’ unless anyone has a better idea.”

“More like Beauty and the Beast.”

“You’re both wrong. It would be Alice in Wonderland since Mal is definitely on drugs,” Maisie grumbled.

“Can I not be in a Disney movie? They are really homophobic,” Mal complained. 

“But so romantic!”

“Please, for the love of God, go to the stage or something,” Ayden begged.

“It wouldn’t be a Disney movie at all you guys, it would be a Dreamworks show because look at the cast,” Alice interjected. Mal groaned and was glad that the bell finally rang to send them to their first classes.

~

When Mal got home she grabbed a soda from the fridge and went to her room, dropping her backpack on the floor and shutting the door behind her. She booted up her computer and pushed some stuff off her desk so she could have a place to rest her arm. She dropped herself into her chair, tapping her fingers impatiently on the arms. Rapidly typing her password in the moment the lock screen showed, she opened her email and clicked on one of Maisie’s signature no topic emails. She had been sent about seven links, one that went to a Wikipedia page, two that went to old newspaper articles, one that reported that an author had been threatened not to write about the school, and the others went to Quora and Yahoo Answers questions. 

The Wikipedia page had useful information like estimated total disappearances and confirmed disappearances, different explanations that had been given for both the people going missing and the school closing, semi-detailed history, and a part about the urban legend Alice kept talking about. 

The two old news articles talked about the school’s closing and the government explanation that was given with a brief mention of the mystery of the place. 

The author that had been threatened, a man named Ned, had announced his intention to publish a non-fiction book about the place that included interviews with people who had worked or gone to school there, an examination of the government shadiness about the entire thing, the root of the legend, his own experience after he had visited there ten years prior, and references to the place in media created at the time of operation. However, he had been sent a letter that threatened him and his family that was signed with a grey eye.

The questions were all answered with the same answer Alice had when Mal had asked her, just rumours and no concrete evidence of there being a creature in the woods beside the disappearances and shutdown. There was also a theory Mal saw of one of the staff members being a murderistic cannibal with an insatiable appetite but she took that one with a grain of salt.

Mal was rereading everything again when her mom came home, knocking on her doorframe before coming in.

“I’m home, I just had to stop at the store,” she said. Mal made a noise of acknowledgement. “What’cha doing?”

“I’m researching this place Alice and Maisie mentioned,” Mal explained. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth. She turned to her mother. “It’s pretty suspicious.”

“Those girls do have interesting taste,” she collaborated. She stepped forward and gave Mal a peck on the forehead before walking out with a wave. “I’ll be making dinner if you need me. Love you Mally-Moo!”

“Love you too Mom!” Mal shouted back. She looked to her computer and highlighted some things she deemed important, copying them and pasting them into a document for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mally-moo is not a play on their shipname its based off of the nickname we had for my dog which was molly-moo


	4. Ghosts of the Past

She slipped past the still-open doors of Hope Elementary, taking notice of the small rock that was holding it in place she must have accidentally kicked there. Mal felt on edge, unlike the last time where she had felt indifferent. She stood in the ruined lobby and looked around. Nothing had changed. 

She couldn’t shake the sense that something was off, even though there was no indication that anything was amiss.

She trod forward and turned the corner, getting out of sight of the weak sunlight to the dark shadows in the hallway. She felt cold, even though it was warm out. 

She took a few steps forward and froze. She felt like something was behind her.

“Hiya!” Mal spun around and saw a little girl. She was slightly transparent, Mal could see the wall behind her. She had brown curtained hair and layered shirts, orange and white. She also had braces that were shown off by her wide grin. Mal fell backwards. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you before! Well, actually, I have. But I’ve never talked to you! I’m Ripley!”

“I’m Mal,” she stammered. Ripley bounded towards her and ran circles around her. Mal watched her in confusion.

“What… what are you?” she asked. Ripley paused for a second, shifting her weight from foot to foot while she tapped her finger against her chin. 

“I don’t know. Jen, Jo, and April think we’re ghosts. But ghosts aren’t real! Mi mamá said that Abuela didn’t know what she was talking about. But also Abuela is very smart. She wouldn’t believe things that aren’t real. Hmm.” She sat down next to Mal. 

“Did you die?” Mal questioned.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.” There was a clatter and they both jerked to look at the source. Molly had dropped some sticks, and her hand covered her face.

“Molly! Molly, look! She’s back!” Ripley gushed. Molly nodded.

“Yes, I see that, Rip,” she mumbled. Mal scrambled to her feet and started to pick up the sticks, gathering them up in her arms. Molly crouched down and started to collect them too.

“So, what’s going on?” Mal inquired. 

“As you can see, Ripley’s a ghost. This building is haunted,” Molly said quietly. They both stood up and Molly avoided looking at her. “I should’ve told you before. But I didn’t think it was important. The girls were sceptical. They didn’t know what you were doing here.”

“There’s others?”

“Yeah, there are others.” A voice said flatly. Mal saw two more girls, both transparent just like Ripley. One had long red hair held in place by a small bow. She had a purple overcoat. The girl beside her wore a purple shirt with sleeves that nearly ran to her palms. She also had a long black skirt and her hair was in a brown bob.

“I’m April, and this is Jo.” The redhead motioned between them to indicate who was who. “There’s also Jen somewhere, but not everyone is like us.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t exactly know,” Molly murmured. “Not everyone ended up like these four. Some just ended up… lost. Shadows of their former selves. They aren’t able to talk to me or even touch me.”

“You can’t touch ghosts,” Mal stated. “That’s a fact that everyone agrees on.”

“I can.” To demonstrate her point, Molly scooped Ripley up in her arms, holding her like a mother would her toddler. Mal experimentally reached her hand out and shivered as it passed directly through Ripley, leaving a tingling sensation on her skin. Ripley giggled.

“That tickles!”

“Come on, let’s go back to camp,” Molly suggested. Mal nodded and followed behind her, glancing back at April and Jo who were both studying her.

~

“Not much changes around here, does it?” Mal commented. The former commons room looked nearly identical to the last time she had been there. Molly nodded.

“This place is like a world without time. Everything stays the same. You’re the first new thing I’ve seen since I came here really.” Molly sat down beside her. “It’s the most interesting thing to happen to me since I found out these guys exist.”

“Jo, we’ve been replaced.”

“I could never replace you guys!” Molly reassured. “Wait, where’s Ripley? Ah, crud. I have to go find her. I’ll be back.”

“How much can she do? She’s a literal ghost!” Mal didn’t get a response. 

“Okay, let’s be upfront, we know why you’re here,” April said suddenly. Mal looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t think I was trying to hide it. I thought she was lonely. I didn’t know about you guys. Not that it changes much,” Mal grumbled. Jo shook her head.

“No, that’s not what we’re talking about. We know who you are. Really are. Why are you back? And when did you become more current?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Mal exclaimed.

“If you aren’t her, then you’re working for her,” April accused. 

“I’m who?” 

“You-know-who! Literally everyone knows!” 

“I don’t know jack, you can check my grades,” Mal deadpanned.

“I don’t believe you,” April growled.

“I do,” Jo stated.

“Why do you believe her?”

“If she was her, then we’d be able to tell by more than just correlation. I think she genuinely has no clue what we’re talking about.” Jo leaned back. “There must be another cause.”

“If that’s your deduction, then I trust you.” 

“What the fuck just happened?” Mal demanded.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing.”

“Is nothing all anything is here?” Mal groaned. She flopped backwards, landing on her back against the floor. It hurt slightly but it was grounding. “I can’t find out anything about this place besides theories and the same facts everyone knows! Not even Maisie and Alice know, and they know all about this junk!”

“We can tell you about whatever you want to know,” Jo offered. Mal shoved herself back up on the bench.

“Really?”

“Yeah, but Jen knows more than us, so you might want to bug her too,” April replied.

“I am going to take you up on that offer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really feeling self-conscious about my writing rn I feel like it's repetitive, annoying, and not making literary sense and looking like what I would write back in sixth grade when I was just starting out. If I don't update anything tomorrow or Sunday, that's why. I just need to get my grip again. Then again, I might try to truck through.


	5. First Hand Accounts

“Right now?” April asked. Mal nodded.

“Right now. Come on. Spill it.”

“Spill what?” Jo questioned.

“Everything. I want to know everything.” Mal waved her hands in an arch. “All of it.”

“You need to give us a place to start,” she stated.

“I don’t know, the beginning? Just like, what you two know about the mystery.”

“We know that this place was kind of like an experiment,” Jo explained. “A research facility for a single creation to see how it functioned.”

“Basically, like a test chamber,” April clarified. 

“My dad was a scientist working for Nasa, and my tatay-”

“Her other dad.”

“Shush- Also worked for Nasa. They knew something was wrong here but it was also one of the only places that would accept me as a student. I think the diversity of the school was simply a collection of different variables to see how they affected the subject. Which would explain why-”

“She’s in theory mode. I’ll take it from here,” April interjected. “This school took in all kinds of different people. Like, even people that weren’t accepted at the time. Some of them are now, I mean from what Molly tells us. Anyways, what we know as a fact is that there is something in those woods that murders children.”

“Really? That’s how you’re going to explain it?”

“You have a better way?”

“Yes!”

“That’s not scientific?” Jo didn’t respond. “That’s what I thought. Now, we know that for a fact because we’ve seen it and we were murdered to death by it.”

“I mean, obviously,” Mal said. “Is that all you know?”

“Yeah, basically. Other than that it was a normal school. Kind of sketchy and uncared for, but a normal school.”

“I have other facts but they are scientific so I guess we’re not talking about them,” Jo mumbled.

“I don’t understand all that smart stuff very well, but hey, try to explain it,” Mal encouraged.

“This entire building and the fenced grounds are a habitat for a creature that cannot be relocated due to possible breaching and unplanned release when it poses a threat to the public. The creature, which I am going to call homo-facere, is a biological creation that does not require sustenance to survive but prefers such.”

“I can’t translate.”

“The thing is something that was made and doesn’t need to eat but likes to,” Jo clarified. “I know that from observing it both before and after, and as a spirit I can see it at close range with no threat to myself. Due to it also having the physical resemblance to a biological woman, I will henceforth be using “she” to refer to the creature.”

“That’s bold, coming from you,” April laughed. 

“I’m looking at her as less sentient than a human since in all attempts to speak to it there has been no reaction along with the fact it does not show the same basic needs as we do. She can sing, but it never differs in tone or word order and the words cannot be made out. Kind of like a songbird.”

“Well that makes sense at least,” Mal mumbled.

“We really need Jen,” April exasperated. “She was literally the best person who worked here. And the only faculty member who died.”

“The only one?” April nodded. 

“It’s our fault, honestly,” she mumbled. “But what else would we have done?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The four of us all disappeared, the last year of the school’s operation. All on the same day,” she replied, running her fingers through her hair. Mal wondered if it felt any different from when she was alive.

“Can you please explain instead of raving like a madman?”

“Madwoman,” Jo corrected quickly.

“Whatever. I’m using it interchangeably. What happened?”

“Ripley was a few grades below us, but we tried to take care of her, help her out. She was a bit immature and still is, and very energetic. It was lunch one day, and we as eighth-graders and Ripley as a sixth-grader had lunch together. They did every other year together so it wouldn’t be horrendous. But we were sitting outside, eating lunch while Ripley was climbing about and she just suddenly stood up like the hairs on a dog’s back. Then she bolted towards the woods. The kids didn’t try to stop her, the teachers didn’t chase after her except Jen. And Jen only came because of April and me, we went after Ripley.”

“What happened after that?” Mal asked. Jo physically hesitated, her jaw tightening and her body shuddering.

“I don’t remember,” she said slowly.

“Okay, obviously you do, but I’m not going to press because that’d be rude.” April perked up and looked down the hall. She jumped out of her seat.

“Jen!”

“Where’s Molly?” She demanded. She was wearing a uniform, unlike the other kids. A snug short blue dress with long white sleeves. She had black leggings on that stopped at her shiny brown dress shoes.

“She went looking for Ripley,” April answered. “Why?”

“Something’s wrong here. I mean besides her,” she pointed at Mal. “I have a feeling that I can’t really describe. Kind of a feeling like something’s wrong.”

“Like you just said?” Mal asked.

“I think it’s because of you, but not your fault. But you need to leave. For your own safety.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She’s here. That’s what she’s talking about,” Jo whispered. “She doesn’t leave the boundaries of the property. Once you get out, you’re safe.”

“Are you all trying to get rid of me?” she accused. April turned on her heel to face Mal and froze. 

A soft lullaby filled the air.

Mal followed her gaze that went past her and felt her heart stop.

A tall hooded figure stood at the end of the other hallway, shrouded in shadow that seemed to hug its body. Nothing could be made out beside long black hair. 

“We tried to warn you, not that you would have gotten far,” April stated. 

She had no idea how’d she get out of this one.


	6. Science Lab

“What do I do?” Mal asked quickly. She was shaking and ready to run, she just needed instructions. 

The legend was true. It wasn’t just rumour, it wasn’t just myth, it was standing in front of her. She looked to Jo, April, and Jen desperately.

“Run. Go to the fence.”

Mal didn’t hang around, rushing off the bench and digging her nails into the carpet to give herself more momentum. Her sneakers slid on the tile floor after she got out of the commons room. She nearly crashed into the wall as she tore around the corner. She glanced behind her to see it had gained on her.

A  _ lot _ . 

Where it had been around twenty-five feet away from, it was not five. She wouldn’t make it to the border. She took another turn, finding it to be a dead end. She looked quickly down the slim hallway since she already had no choice but to go down it. Five doors, one in the far corner. She ran in and slammed it behind her, locking it and hoping that it worked. 

She could barely see, the only light coming through the crack beneath the door. She was only able to make out the silhouettes of objects. Like a large desk with papers on it. She stumbled forward only to trip over a rug that she hadn’t seen. She righted herself and went to work, pushing the desk against the door. 

Her eyes adjusted to the room and she could see better, although it wasn’t much of an improvement. She could see the rough edges of small objects, although none looked significant or weighty. She backed into the corner and felt something underneath her feet, underneath the carpet.

The doorknob rattled.

Mal pulled the carpet back and felt around for the object, eventually finding a handle. Her confusion and reasoning were overridden with panic and she pulled. There was a thud against the door.

It was a trapdoor, and without further thought, she jumped down it.

She landed on her ankle, collapsing on top of it. Searing pain shot up her leg and she tried to push herself to her feet, tears welling in the corner of her eyes. She could see now, some soft white light glowing from the bottom of the walls around her. 

She was on cold concrete, chipped to high hell, broken glass scattered about. The walls were metal plates, dented severely, with chalkboards attached that had equal amounts of chalk and dust. There were tables around the room, with vials, needles, microscopes, papers, folders, and other scientific equipment. Against the wall to her right was a row of computers that looked too advanced to be from the sixties or early seventies. The opposite wall had filing cabinets. There was a ladder leading down that she hadn’t seen in her haste.

The main focus of her attention was a large stereotypical alien capsule. The front of it was cut down the center and opened wide and the inside had a drain in the middle of the floor. Tubes jutted out the sides, at least ten in total. They connected to a variety of glass containers that were all empty. Some of them had labels that Mal couldn’t read, others had no labels at all. 

There was a crashing above her and a soft lullaby filled her ears. She turned on her back and looked up at the entrance. She could see long black hair dangling down and nothing more. Her chest felt like it had a thousand-pound weight on it with how hard it was to breathe. She couldn’t move or speak. 

It moved towards her, then stopped.

It retreated.

She stared at the gap for a few seconds, which turned into a few minutes while she tried to regulate her breathing. She carefully pushed herself up and balanced on her good foot, hobbling over to one of the tables. She finally got in a deep breath.

Running for her life, jumping down into a mysterious trapdoor, and fucking her ankle up. Perfect.

She grabbed a paper and started reading it, her eyes widening as she scanned it. Eighteen different rows, each row having different names with different notes attached. At the bottom traits were tallied. She set it down. The floorboards above her creaked and she felt the pressure on her chest return. 

“Mal? Are you down there?”

“Yeah!” Mal shouted. “Don’t jump down here. It’s a bad idea. Not talking from experience or anything, obviously.” The rungs of the ladder clanked with every step down them Molly took. She rushed over to Mal and started checking her body while firing questions.

“What happened? Are you hurt? How’d you get away? W-”

“Slow down,” Mal chuckled weakly. “I honestly have no fucking idea what happened. I was just talking to Jo and April when the other lady, Jes? Showed up and was freaked to high hell about something being off and that I should leave and then that chick appeared. I did screw my ankle because I jumped from all the way up there and landed on it slightly off. And I think it was pure luck I got away, except that it left for some reason. Something had to have caused that. But how did you find me?” Mal asked. Molly pointed up.

“The girls, Jo and April were hysterical. Jen- her name is Jen, by the way- explained what happened and they led me here.”

“You’re welcome,” April said nonchalantly. She climbed down the ladder like Molly had, while Jo floated. Ripley dropped from the room above, leaving Jen to make her way down.

“Thank you all,” Mal closed her eyes. “I’d probably have died here without your help.”

“Probably.” Jo crouched beside a filing cabinet, her eyes narrowed as she read the label. “You should probably go home. It’s safer.”

“No. I’m not a coward. I’m staying,” Mal stated firmly. “Molly has stayed here for ages, and she’s fine.”

“I don’t know why,” Molly admitted.

“Well, we just found this treasure trove of information that nobody here knew about before, so maybe we’ll find out here.” She reached over and tugged on April’s sleeve, drawing her attention to the filing cabinet.

“Like whose fault this really is,” she snarled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Mal is the definition of stupid lesbian because like threat of death but pretty girl.  
> She's also be gay do crime.


	7. Flashback

_ The jungle bars were always her favourite, she had so many options. They were tall, when she hung off them her feet dangled above the ground. She could hook her knees and hang upside down, stand on top of the bars and be the tallest. Jump from bar to bar to practice her balance. Swing like Tarzan on the underside. She preferred the seven-foot-high one, but she’d go on the five-foot-high one if the other was crowded. _

_ Sure, the slides were fun. The play structure was great too, but nothing gave her the same experience as those monkey bars did. Except for scaling the building itself, which had gotten her multiple calls home. She probably held the record for most times removed from the roof. _

_ So she swung her legs back and forth, kicking the air idly. She could see April and Jo out of the corner of her eye, sitting at a picnic table in the corner. Jen was absent, rounding up some other kids who had gotten themselves in trouble. She was bored. _

_ Then a soft song filled her ears, beckoning her away from the safety of the herd. Words of promise, an adventure like the heroes she read about experienced, a future full of excitement and joy. She glanced back at her friends briefly before she hurried off. _

_ She jumped the fence with ease, the school quickly fading from view. She felt her smile grow wider and wider as she thought about the new journey she was running towards. Up and down, left and right, dodging trees and branches. Eventually, she skidded to a stop. The identical ground turned into a path. She followed it. She no longer felt the same eagerness she had initially. She felt dread. _

_ The path turned into a clearing where a tall woman clad in a long black cloak and dress stood. She could only see a curtain of black hair and grey hands with elongated fingers. She checked over her shoulder. _

_ “Are you the one who was singing?” she nodded. “Were you telling the truth?” another nod. “How?” Her fingers curled to beckon her forward. _

_ She couldn’t keep herself from obeying. _

_ ~ _

_ “Hey?” _

_ “Hm?” _

_ “She's gone.” Her focus tore from the book in her hands to the monkey bars that were indeed missing a preteen. She set the story down beside her and looked at the ginger. _

_ “Where-” _

_ “Some kids from the Zodiac team got into a fight with some kids from the Woolpit team. She’s sorting it out.” She sighed.  _

_ “It’s on us then, let’s go.” The other students didn’t bat an eye as they struggled to climb the fence, eventually tumbling over the shoddy wood. She offered her hand which her best friend accepted and they rushed into the woods. _

_ “How will we find her?” the other girl asked.  _

_ “I don’t know. We just have to follow all the signs of her and hope it was in fact her and not some animal,” she said slowly.  _

_ “Or some cannibalistic witch.” She rolled her eyes. _

_ “Witches aren’t real.” _

_ “Well, something is real.” _

_ “Not a witch.” She was elbowed. _

_ “Then a bigfoot!” _

_ “Bigfoot would be a herbivore and would not leave footprints like that.” She pointed at the small shoe print in the dirt in front of them. _

_ “Maybe he has dolls.” _

_ “You’re weird.” _

_ “Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” _

_ They kept walking, their hands eventually locking as the natural forest ambience grew into silence. It wasn’t right, she couldn’t deny it. _

_ A shrill scream cut through the quiet and she yanked on the other’s hand. _

_ “We have to run. Now!” They separated and she tripped over a rock that hadn’t been there before. Before she could get up, something grabbed her ankle. _

_ ~ _

_ “And I don’t care if they said that Zodiac was the worst at sports, or if they said that Woolpit were terrible gardeners, that isn’t grounds for a fistfight! Am I understood?” The scolded teenagers nodded. “Good, now go to your next period classes. There will be calls home.” She pinched the bridge of her nose as she walked away, taking in a deep breath.  _

_ She walked outside just as the bell rang and she began counting the kids, checking off each one that came through the door she stood by. She checked her kids twice and frowned. Her girls always came through her door. She walked to the centre of the playground with the other teachers. They compared lists to make sure every student was accounted for. _

_ “Wait, we’re missing three kids!” she exclaimed. “Did anyone see them?” _

_ “They climbed the fence,” one of the other teachers stated. _

_ “Did anyone try to stop them?” She received no answers. _

_ “Are you serious? None of you tried to stop three kids from jumping the fence and leaving school?” _

_ “I’m not paid enough to stop them from doing things I did when I was a kid,” One scoffed. _

_ “It’s about morals! Maybe we can still find them.” _

_ “Going in those woods? No way. Not for three kids that aren’t going to do anything great.” She resisted the urge to smack the woman. _

_ “Well it’s too bad your parents kept you safe because you didn’t turn into anything great,” she snapped, “these kids have their whole lives in front of them, and I will find them or die trying.” She stormed off, unlocking a gate that was near the wall to charge into the woods. _

_ ~ _

_ You watched everything happen. You saw all four of them leave and not return. You tell your teammates what you’re about to do and what to do if you don’t come back, but if there was any chance they were okay, you’d find them. _

_ Slipping out of class is easy, getting past the fence is harder, and building the courage to enter the wood is the hardest. You eventually do, touching the small flower clip in your hair for comfort. You creep quietly through the underbrush and avoid all the twigs you see. You don’t know how long you are gone, but it doesn’t matter. _

_ A stick is crushed nearby. It isn’t you. Something lands a few feet away, and your focus is drawn from the noise to it. _

_ You wish it hadn’t been. _

_ The hand isn’t attached to its owner but is still bleeding, but something else grabs it. A long forked tongue wraps around it and retracts like a frog catching a fly and you run. _

_ You run as fast as you can, never looking back. You climb the fence and fall over it. Your breathing never calms down and you eventually sit up and stumble to the bathroom. _

_ You hurl. _

_ One of your friends comes in and doesn’t ask questions, just holds you to her chest as you shake and your mouth spills everything that had happened. Her grey sweatshirt is scratching you but for once you appreciate it. _

_ You both agree that you’re leaving and it’s your last day. You tell your other friends and they decide that as well. _

_ You all withdraw from the school, but not before filing a police report. _

_ Four new missing person reports are filed in the next week. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at me forgetting my update schedule so the next update is Monday


	8. Murdered to Death

“What did you guys find?” Mal asked. 

“Files,” Jo mumbled, “Notes about the victims. Over a hundred files. All in this cabinet.” She dragged her fingers along the entirety of the cabinet. “And other things too. Patterns, observation, research, all sorts of things.”

“Maybe it can tell us why you can touch things as a ghost,” Mal deadpanned. April floated over to her and phased her hand through her body, sending shivers down Mal’s spine.

“I can’t touch stuff.”

“Not me, dummy! Like the books and stuff,” Mal exclaimed. April reached over to grab something on the desk and picked up a pen, twirling it between her fingers.

“That would be nice to know. Unless we’re all poltergeists,” April stated. 

“I doubt that. Because if we were...” Jo “pinched” Mal, a freezing cold feeling lingering after she moved away. “That would have hurt. While we do meet the criteria, we aren’t. It’s something else.” She pulled open the filing cabinet, rummaging through the papers until she found what she was looking for. She read it closely.

“What are you looking for?”

“Anything,” Jo replied. She put her finger against the paper to highlight a word. “Look at this.” April leaned over, blocking Mal’s view of the paper.

“They used the wrong name.”

“Not what I’m pointing at.”

Mal looked over their shoulders, trying to discreetly get a glimpse of what Jo was showing April. At the top of the paper was what she presumed was Jo’s full name. Next to it was her grade, then her age. There was a picture below of her, then a description of her personality, along with other details deemed important to know. On the side of the paper was a checklist with different sections along with a space to write in anything else that would fit in the category. There were spots for gender, sexuality, religion, race, wealth, and special needs.

“This place closed in the seventies, why are they even considering sexuality?” Mal observed. Jo tried to cover part of the paper with her hands.

“Because gay people have always existed?” April said. Molly walked up beside them holding Ripley, looking with a furrowed brow.

“This is all so weird,” she muttered. “I never knew about any of this.”

“You’re friends with ghosts but this is weird,” Mal clarified.

“Well, I never said being friends with ghosts wasn’t weird.”

“Jo, go to the next page,” Jen requested. Mal limped aside to allow her to see without having to step through her, situating herself on the other side of Molly.

“Does she weigh anything?” Mal asked in a whisper. Molly shook her head.

“See, look there.”

“Yeah. That’s weird. Hey, April, can you grab another file?”

“Sure.”

“Guys, I think we’re going to stay down here for a while,” Jo exhaled. “It’s late, you should rest. Or go home.”

“I’m staying.”

“You’re stubborn,” April commented.

“And you aren’t?”

“Josephine, you are being sassy.”

“Let’s just go,” Molly whispered to her. Mal nodded in agreement. They crept quietly as Jo and April bickered. Ripley had situated herself to hang off Molly’s back (Mal didn’t think Einstien could explain how a ghost could physically interact with a human if they weren’t a poltergeist). Molly went up the ladder first, stomping her foot in what Mal assumed was a signal.

With every rung Mal felt a searing pain in her ankle that made her seriously consider cutting off her foot. She inhaled sharply with even the smallest movement. At the top, Molly grabbed her hand to help pull her up, and then she pulled Mal’s arm around her shoulder and put her own around Mal’s waist.

“I can walk on my own, you know,” Mal protested.

“It hurts you. Come on, it won’t be a long walk.” Mal tried not to focus on the ruined room, or the claw marks in the door, or her ankle that was indeed still in pain. She also tried to ignore the frosty tingling in her arm around Molly’s shoulder from Ripley, and the fact that her arm was around Molly’s shoulder.

At the commons area, Molly insisted on helping Mal sit down before she attended to making a fire. Mal wasn’t sure why she felt the need to make a fire, it was chilly but not freezing, but did appreciate how the flames crackled and bathed the space in dancing orange and yellow hues along with producing heat that licked her face. Molly wiped her forehead before sitting beside her.

“I’m really sorry you got hurt,” she murmured. “I never should have left you alone.”

“Well, it’s my fault. I jumped into a shady school basement instead of taking the ladder,” Mal countered.

“It’s kind of strange, I have never seen her before. And I still haven’t, I just know she was here. But then you arrive, and not even four days with you here and she shows up,” Molly said.

“Maybe Jo, April, and Jen will find something to explain it. I’m glad that she just showed up anyways.”

“Why are you glad she just showed up?”

“Well, she’s responsible for like, over a hundred murders, right? Since she wasn’t here before, you’re not murdered to death.” Molly laughed.

“Murdered to death? Isn’t that a tautology?”

“No idea what that means.” Mal snapped her fingers into guns. Molly laughed some more.

“It’s like saying the same thing twice. Murder means to kill someone without a justifiable reason, and death is what happens when someone is killed. So saying murdered to death is like saying someone was killed to death.”

“Oh, that makes sense. I just like saying murdered to death,” Mal shrugged.

“It’s interesting. But you almost got ‘murdered to death.’” she used air quotes around the statement Mal had used like she was still getting familiar with it. “Why do you still want to stay here?”

“YOLO or whatever, right?” She looked at the confusion on Molly’s face and continued “You only live once. And I definitely don’t want to leave you alone here now, even though I’m going to have to on Sunday. Do you think you’ll still hang out around here after this?” Molly clutched her arms tightly.

“Where else do I have to go?” she mumbled. “I’m not going back to them.”

“Your parents?” she nodded. Mal shifted. “Do you want to talk about it? I mean, if you’re comfortable.” Molly sighed.

“I’ll tell you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mal's thought process with her ankle is what mine was when I sprained mine, or I even get slightly injured.  
> Also putting murdered to death here to spite my friends who make fun of me for saying it, I hate you guys you're lucky I love y'all.


	9. Past and Present

“Seriously, if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to,” Mal reiterated.

“No, it’s okay,” Molly insisted. “I want to tell you. I think it’ll be good to tell another human and not a ghost. Have I told you anything about it?” Mal racked her brain.

“You said you were fifteen, or at least you thought you were.”

“Right, it’s hard to keep track of time. I typically count by winters, and eight-plus seven is fifteen. So yeah, fifteen. I’ll turn sixteen next spring. I think,” Molly said.

“Why’d you start with eight?”

“That’s when I left. When I ran away.” 

“From your family? You mentioned that you wouldn’t go back to them. Why?” Mal asked. Molly shuddered, digging her nails into the fabric of her shirt.

“They didn’t treat me well. At all. They hurt me. I thought it was normal, but after I started going to school I learned it wasn’t.”

“How did they hurt you?” Molly turned away from her.

“She’d call me nothing. A mistake, garbage, a waste of space. Anything you can think of. Things you shouldn’t call a human being, much less a child. Things a child shouldn’t be. She’d hit me, a lot. It was calculated. Places you couldn’t see unless you were actively searching for them so she wouldn’t get caught. Only me, not my sisters. Not the twins.”

“You have sisters?” Molly nodded.

“Yeah, I think they’re ten now. They were three. Two buckets of trouble, inseparable. I hope they’re okay.”

“Maybe I could check on them for you? They might go to a school in my district. If they do I could ask Alice’s little brother. He’s in fifth grade I think.”

“I’d rather they not have a stranger come up to them and say “hey, I’m friends with your sister that you haven’t seen since you were three and she wants to know how you’re doing.” I think it would scare them.”

“I mean, I am pretty scary,” Mal said proudly. Molly laughed.

“About as scary as a kitten.”

“Hey, I can be a terrifying gal,” Mal pouted. 

“I’m sure, but not to me.”

“Back on topic, is that everything she did to you?” Mal inquired. Molly hesitated.

“I don’t want to talk about the other stuff. I changed my mind. But things that would get her sent to jail for a long, long time. I felt like I was either going to be stuck there forever, or die there, so I took fate into my own hands. Do you know how horrible it is for a little girl to have to wonder if she was going to die every single day? At least now I worry about practical things. Like if I have enough supplies, blankets and stuff, for winter.”

“I could help you with that if you wanted. Now that I know you’re here. I get paid for doing chores, and I also have birthday money and junk. I could buy you the things you need.”

“No thanks. I have like, fifty jackets. It’s just remembering where I put them. Having to hunt for them over and over,” Molly lied. Mal raised an eyebrow.

“Seriously, let me help you.”

“No, it’s fine!”

“You’re so stubborn,” She kept laughing, Mal loved it. She was playfully shoved.

“I’ve been okay with what I have for years, I don’t need anything more,” she insisted. 

“What about food and stuff?”

“Seriously! Knock it off!”

“Let me help!” Mal wrapped her arm around Molly’s shoulder in a friendly gesture, rocking them back and forth.

“No!” Their chuckling died and Mal grew serious.

“Do you ever regret it? Leaving your family behind?”

“Never. Maybe when I was little, but now I’m happier than I ever was with them. Safer too, ironically. Which is also really disappointing. Parents should protect their kids and she did the opposite.”

“What about your dad?” Molly scowled.

“He did nothing. I mean, he did nothing to stop her. He’d be nice when it was just us, or us and strangers, but around my mom and sisters, he was practically a statue. Not saying a thing. Not trying to stop her. Not even moving really. He just let it happen.” She clenched her hands into fists. “I hate her, but I hate him almost as much for that. The twins are literally the only people from my old life who I don’t blame for anything. The teachers knew what was going on because I told them, but they never did anything more. Then the one time a neighbour had gotten the cops involved, they didn’t do anything. Nobody did anything.” She took a shaky breath. “None of it should have ever happened. There were so many opportunities to stop it but I had to take it on myself.”

“I could never do that,” Mal mumbled. “I would have just stayed there. I’d have stayed there until I was eighteen.”

“Well, if you had been in my shoes you would have done the same thing,” Molly stated.

“I don’t have the guts for it. But I’m lucky. Not incredibly lucky, I’m not rich or famous or anything. It’s just me and my mom, and she loves me to death and I love her too, obviously. She supports me in everything. Like I told her I wanted to be a musician, so she bought me a guitar. I told her I wanted to get piercings, she let me get piercings. I told her I’m gay, she bought me a flag,” Mal chuckled. “We might not be millionaires, might not be well off, but we’re happy.”

“You don’t have a dad?” Mal shook her head.

“Never met him. Don’t want to either. Just in comparison to you, it’s like I was handed the golden ticket to Charlie’s chocolate factory.”

“It sounds nice,” Molly murmured.

“It is.”

“I guess I kind of lucked out, but I do appreciate that since being here, I’ve made friends. Not a lot, some ghosts and you, but that’s more than I ever had and I don’t know where I’d be without them. They’ve all taught me things.”

“Even me?”

“You taught me that not all people are bad. I had firmly believed it after what I went through and the girls went through. Then you came bumbling in here, asking questions and being a general dork and I was reminded some people are good, or at least funny.”

“Which am I?” Mal asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Both.”

“I am quite the clown,” Mal boasted.

“Yeah,” Molly agreed. She yawned. “I might sleep, I’m pretty tired.”

“Okay. I have food in my bag, like granola bars and shit if you want it.”

“It’s fine.” Molly shifted and leaned her head against Mal’s shoulder. Mal realized she was trapped.

Moreso, she realized she was fine with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to government things that should benefit children actually working against them.


	10. The Three Stooges

“Look! Mal is back from visiting her cryptid girlfriend and she’s not dead! Call off the funeral!” Alice announced. Mal rolled her eyes, slinging her bag off her shoulders and dropping it on the floor beside her seat.

“For the last time, she’s not my girlfriend,” Mal stated, “and she’s not a cryptid. Sorry to burst your bubble.” 

“Cryptids aren’t real,” Maisie mumbled, never looking up from her phone.

“Do I need to get The List?”

“So I can debunk it all again? Sure.”

“You didn’t debunk it, you came up with explanations and I debunked those.” Mal groaned.

“Where are the others? I don’t feel like listening to this.”

“Mary and Ayden got in a fight again, I don’t know where either of them went. They’ll be back later. Aria is probably with her boyfriend, whatever his name is.”

“It’s Benjamin,” Maisie reminded. “I texted Ayden, and they are on their way back. Mary is with her boyfriend, probably because of the spat with Ayden. Aria and Mary will probably be back for lunch.”

“Okay, it’s singles club! Anyone want to play Spin the Bottle?” Alice wiggled her eyebrows.

“I’d rather kiss a garbage can than kiss you,” Maisie grumbled.

“I’d like to know how many different lists you have,” Mal questioned. Alice shrugged.

“A lot. I have a list of lists.”

“Stop making lists.”

“No, fuck you.” Mal saw Ayden coming into the cafeteria and hit her fist on the table to draw the girls attention.

“Guys, we all have a study hall at the same time. I need you to meet me in the back corner of the library.”

“The bean bag corner?” Maisie clarified.

“Yeah. It’s a better place to talk than here,” Mal said quietly.

“You could have talked to us about whatever it is just now?” Alice pointed out. Mal shook her head. “Or at least mentioned it before.”

“I didn’t think about it. Just meet me then, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“Good,” Mal said, leaning back as Ayden sat down.

~

_ “Mal,” Jo stepped in front of her, shifting her weight back and forth. Mal didn’t know how a ghost could do that. _

_ “Yeah? What up?” She spoke quietly, careful not to wake Molly who was against her shoulder. _

_ “If we are going to get to the bottom of this, we need some help from the outside. Anything you can find about this.” _

_ “I have some friends who could help me, I’ll take some pictures and write some stuff down.” Jo looked like she wanted to ask a question, but she instead told her something else. _

_ “They called it ‘Project Siren.’” _

~

“Mal, why are you being so sketchy?” Alice inquired. Mal sat in the corner, a small alley between two bookshelves with a bunch of bean bags blocking her in. She had a Chromebook on her lap, her phone out with some pictures displayed, and a few notes on paper. Alice carefully jumped over the wall while Maisie simply stepped over it, both sitting beside her.

“I need input from both of you,” Mal explained. She moved everything to be spread equally in front of the trio, waving at the display. “Alice, you have an ungodly amount of knowledge on the supernatural. Maisie, you know all the shit the government hides. I’m dealing with both here.”

“What are you talking about?” Maisie cocked an eyebrow.

“Look, the rumours are true. Something chased me there. Before you even say it, no, it wasn’t Molly.”

“Molly?”

“The girl who lives there. Look, I took pictures and wrote some stuff down to show you guys because if anyone could figure it out, it would be you two.” Alice picked up a paper, scanning it with curiosity.

“Mal, your handwriting is shit.”

“Dude shut the fuck up.”

“This is what it looked like?” Alice asked.

“Yeah.”

“This is the only known witness description,” she murmured, rummaging through her bag. She pulled out a pencil and notebook and started sketching.

“‘Project Siren?’ At least I have a name now.” Maisie pulled out her phone and quickly typed something in.

“Did it look like this?” Alice showed Mal her drawing

“Practically spot on,” Mal remarked. Alice pumped her fist in the air.

“Sweet! And now that there is a description and some observations about behaviour, this will make researching so much easier!” Alice cheered. They heard a distant hushing and Alice mouthed “sorry.”

“Well, besides what you already had before, I don’t think you’ll find anything new,” Maisie informed. “I am finding nothing. Mal, I hope you’re lying about the hobo living there because if you want any help from me, I’m going to need to see this for myself.”

“I’d like to come too,” Alice said. Mal fidgeted nervously.

“I’ll ask Molly today and text you later.”

~

“Mal, what are you doing here? Don’t you have to be at home?” April asked the moment she stepped in the school. 

“Yes, I do, but I need to ask Molly something. I’m not going to be here long.” 

“I’ll get her.” April darted down the hallway, Mal following behind. Molly was rummaging through some bags.

“Hey.” She jumped.

“Oh, Mal! I thought I wasn’t going to see you for a few days.”

“I’m not supposed to be here, actually. I’m only here to ask you something.”

“What?”

“So, I went to my friends to ask them for help trying to figure out what the hell is going on here, but they both want to see this place for themselves. Well, Maisie said she had to see the files in order to do anything and Alice just wants to. But if you don’t want them here I’ll tell them both no.” Molly looked to April. 

“If it can help get answers for them, then I’m okay with it,” she said softly. Mal gave her a thumbs up.

“Awesome, I don’t think we have school Wednesday, so I’ll bring them then. See you Wednesday!” She hugged Molly quickly and ran off.

~

_ The only straight person here: Ayden istg im gonna beat ur ass _

_ Piercing Anarchist: Mary could you and Ayden fight in dms this is annoying _

_ 03:21 _

_ the lesbian guitarist: alice maisie were a go for wednesday _

_ Auntie Alice: sweet im gonna see if ur lying about a hobo girl _

_ Piercing Anarchist: And I’m going to murder you both there _

_ Piercing Anarchist: If you don’t start typing properly _

_ Several people are typing... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love writing in text i find it so much fun although you can't see the size difference I put in my docs


	11. Investigation Team

“This place is more decrypted than I expected it would be,” Maisie mumbled, kicking a stone across the floor. Mal glared at her over her shoulder.

“Your standards are as high as the Empire State building,” Alice joked “I’m surprised it’s still standing at all.”

“I’m surprised you both agreed to come here. Let’s go find Molly so I can get you two out as fast as possible,” Mal said. Alice pointed down a hallway to their left.

“That way?”

“Not that way. This way.”

“I feel like something’s that way,” she muttered under her breath before following. Maisie clicked on a flashlight.

“Maze, I think you’re being too urban explorer here,” Mal commented.

“Okay Miss fell-down-a-hole-and-sprained-her-ankle, I’ll just try to be like you,” she retorted. Alice snickered. 

“Miss probably-on-drugs-and-hallucinating,” she added.

“Will you two knock it off?” Mal took a deep breath and turned the corner, leading them into the empty commons area. She looked around in confusion, ignoring Alice’s snickering.

“Where’s the hobo, Mal?”

“I’ll hurt you. I don’t know where she is, I’ll just bring you guys to the lab and find her later. But before we go there, I think I should mention something I left out when I was initially telling you guys about this place.” She inhaled quickly. “This place is haunted.”

“Ghosts?”

“Ghosts aren’t real.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.” Mal corralled them back down the hallway and into the small hall, taking the flashlight from Maisie to illuminate the office they entered. Disregarding a sarcastic remark from Maisie, she pointed to the ladder and motioned them down. “Ladies first.”

“I’m not doing that,” Maisie stated. Alice nudged her out of the way.

“I am! I’m more woman than both of you, so let a real girl by.” Mal watched her go down and waited for her to touch the floor before redirecting the light to shine in Maisie’s face.

“Bitches first,” she deadpanned.

“Why are you looking at me then?” She responded. 

“I’m no dog. You’re the one wearing a spiked collar.”

“It’s a choker!” Maisie insisted and reluctantly climbed down. Mal practically slid down the ladder like it was a fire pole and looked at Maisie and Alice with amusement. 

Alice’s eyes were stars as she looked at Jo, Jen, and April, like all her dreams were coming true. Maisie had an expression of disbelief.

“Maisie, Alice, meet Jo, April, and Jen. Jo, April, Jen, meet Maisie and Alice.” Jo pointed at Alice.

“You’re like me,” she said quietly. Alice cocked her head in confusion.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“No idea. Hey girls, do you know where Molly is?” Mal asked. Two shrugs and a sigh in response.

“No, but I’ll go find her,” Jen volunteered.

“Thanks, Jen. Okay, are the files all still in place?” April nodded. Jo pulled open the cabinet and stepped back.

“Besides the ones on the table, which are ours, yes.”

“Rad. Maisie, Alice, I don’t know where you want to start here, since I’m pretty clueless.”

“I want the paper evidence since I am not above believing you drugged me.”

“I’m offended by that.”

“I’d like to do interviews! It’s the most important part of research after all. First-hand accounts, second-hand, which I don’t think applies here-”

“Sorry, she wants to be a paranormal investigator,” Mal apologised. April waved a hand dismissively.

“Oh it’s fine, I would have been just as curious.”

“April, why don’t you help Maisie with files and I’ll talk with Alice.” April gave a thumbs up and started pulling papers, causing Maisie to visibly panic and charge over. Jo and Alice went and sat in the corner. Mal pulled out her notebook and started writing down notes about the space, sketches of different things, and odd observations.

She didn’t even hear Molly come down, although she did hear Alice’s shouting.

“Hey, Mal wasn’t lying!” 

“Of course I wasn’t lying! And how many times have I told you her name? It’s Molly!”

“Molly, Molly, Mal refuses to tell us much about you,” Alice continued. 

“Alice, don’t you have something to be doing?” Mal snapped.

“Oh, right, sorry. Girl, you and I are talking as soon as we get the chance!” She turned away and Molly shirked back next to Mal.

“I’m sorry about Alice. She’s pretty excitable and loud, but she is a great person,” Mal said quietly.

“She seems interesting.”

“She is.”

“So, what is going on?” Molly inquired.

“Alice is interviewing Jo and April, and she’ll probably want to interview you, Ripley, and Jen too. Maisie is over there dying because April is moving stuff around and she just wants to read the goddamn files. I am just writing down some junk and sketching some things, like the alien-looking capsule there.”

“Anything I can do?” 

“Just hanging out with us helps,” Mal said plainly. Molly was silent for a moment then nodded.

“Okay, cool. Maybe I can show you something you might find interesting. Unless you don’t trust them here alone, then I understand.”

“Honestly the worse they can do is beat each other up and it’s not Friday yet, so that’s unlikely. Jo and April can probably keep them under wraps mostly since Alice just tends to get Maisie fired up. Keeping Ripley from being distracting might be good because Alice and Ripley could possibly bounce off each other and get out of control. Same energy right there.”

“Typically Ripley can’t go anywhere without Jen with her, so I think that Jen can keep at least one of them under wraps.”

“I feel like I should just let Maisie know first,” Mal stated. Molly nodded. Mal quietly snuck up to Maisie, who had one hand in her ponytail and another on the table and tapped her shoulder. Maisie glanced at her and mouthed “help.”

“You’re fine, Maze. Molly is going to show me something, we’ll be back. Keep Alice under control.” A thumbs up and Mal shot one back, darting back and tugging Molly’s sleeve.

“So?”

“Greenlight. Whaddya have to show me?”


End file.
